


Dark Age

by scifantasy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-24
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 15:12:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1514999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifantasy/pseuds/scifantasy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>We told the guy about </i>Star Wars<i> and </i>Rocky<i> but we didn't mention the Vietnam War?</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Age

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place prior to _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ , and therefore has no substantial spoilers for it.

It was Stark’s third scotch (since sitting down, that is. Probably his sixth of the day, minimum), Banner’s fourth G&T (he claimed to have developed a taste for it in India. A bit in poor taste, but who was going to tell the Hulk “dude, not funny”? Well, Tony gave him a look, anyway), Nat’s second vodka (someone had to be the responsible one), Miss Potts’s first glass of wine (someone had to  _actually_  be the responsible one), Captain Rogers’s...tenth? beer (not that he was showing any signs of drunkenness). Clint sat back, fifth beer in hand (and gullet), and let the conversation wash over him.

"This is what I don’t understand," Cap was saying. "New York is attacked..."

"The country went berserk," Stark replied. "This was before any of us came on the scene, see. S.H.I.E.L.D. was a tiny little intelligence spleen, downsized once they finished cleaning up after HYDRA. I don’t even think these two were signed up yet." He waved at Nat and Clint.  _True enough_ , Clint thought. He’d still been showboating, and Nat was in what she now called her red-ledger phase.

"Nobody saw it coming," put in Miss Potts.

"So everybody was terrified, that’s actually the word," Stark continued.

"They, we, panicked. Lashed out. Fear, anger...lots of rage." Banner managed to say that without the merest hint of irony. "And then, because of how badly that all got bungled, there was a lot of  _leftover_  rage.”

"It ended up spilling over," Nat said.

"God, what a charlie-foxtrot," Stark summarized. "It was Vietnam all over again."

A brief silence, while everybody brooded.

Then Cap raised an eyebrow. “Vietnam?”

This time the silence was shock. Banner looked at Miss Potts. Miss Potts looked at Stark. Stark looked at Nat. Nat looked at Clint. Clint looked at Miss Potts. Everybody looked at everybody. Nobody looked at Cap.

Finally Clint and Stark looked at each other, and they were thinking the same thing.

_We told the guy about_ Star Wars _and_ Rocky _but we didn't mention the Vietnam War?_

* * *

Stark sighed. “In 1964—actually, in 1959...OK, I guess you could back it up to 1945. We told you that Russia and the US didn't get along great after Germany and Japan surrendered.”

"The Berlin Wall," Cap said, holding up his little notebook.

"Yeah. There’s more than that..."

Stark and Miss Potts did most of the talking, explaining as best they could. Communist Russia, the Domino Theory, the Iron Curtain. Nat stayed mostly silent but occasionally put in a glimpse of what it had been like from the other side.

Then they got onto the subject at hand. North Vietnam, the Gulf of Tonkin. The slogs through the jungle, the casualty rates, the draft.

Tet, Speedy Express, the Phoenix Program.

My Lai.

And the reaction at home. Protests. Flag burning. Spitting on GIs. Draft dodging. Kent State.

They talked for hours. Cap couldn’t sit still after a while, and started pacing. Stark stayed with him, but the others…Nat and Banner quietly withdrew, and eventually Miss Potts did the same. Cap and Stark were in their own little bubble, barely noticing anything.

Finally it was all talked out, and both of them looked exhausted. Cap leaned against the window, Stark stood a few paces behind.

"We’d gotten out of weapons by the early Sixties, but once Vietnam got that hot, once Vanko was gone...Stane talked my father back into the business. I wasn’t even born yet, but..."

"...but it was where the company was when you took the reins."

"Yeah."

"It hurt," Clint said. Both Stark and Cap whirled, surprised—they’d clearly forgotten he was even in the room. "It was painful, and dark, and really embarrassing. And honestly, the more recent embarrassments have overtaken it. But we remember, even the generation born after. We were all shaped by it, in one way or another."

Stark nodded. “Look, Steve, if you want, I know some really good books and stuff...”

"Thanks, Stark," Cap said. "But I think I want to look into this on my own."

"Yeah," Stark said.

With that, Cap left the room, shoulders slumped. Stark flopped back onto the couch and drained his glass—that was number six, as Clint reckoned it.

Stark poured another finger or two into his glass. “We really did tell him just the good stuff, right? The Moon Landing, movies, food...even the Berlin Wall was a story about it coming down.”

"We mostly remember the good stuff," Clint shrugged. "How else can we survive?"

"Think he’ll be okay?"

"He’s Captain America."

"Yeah." Stark slammed down the booze and stood, stumbling toward the head and, Clint guessed, his bed.

After a minute, Clint managed to climb out of his chair and made his way out.


End file.
